


Strategy Meeting

by vivvav



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Gen, Makoto Niijima Week, The AFR Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-30 12:19:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12108576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vivvav/pseuds/vivvav
Summary: The leader of the Phantom Thieves and their new strategist sit down to discuss battle tactics.Written for Makoto Niijima Week. The prompt for Day 1 is "Strategist/Leader".





	Strategy Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> I've been gone for a bit, and this is why.
> 
> It's Makoto Niijima Week! That's seven days (and one bonus day) of prompts for fan creations about Makoto. I've gotten half the week done already, so hopefully that's one fic every day for the next week! In addition, each fic will feature a cover by the crazy talented Hureno. I've seen some of the stuff she's done for this week so far and it is hard to believe that all of it comes from one person. I've linked to her tumblr below, so be sure to go check it out! And for more information about Makoto Niijima Week, here's the blog that started it all:
> 
> https://makotoniijimaweek.tumblr.com

 

**Cover Art by[Hureno](http://hurenoshmureno.tumblr.com)**

* * *

 

Ren found himself in a rare moment of boredom. It had been a couple days since clearing Kaneshiro’s Palace, and there wasn't really much Phantom Thieving to be done. The team had handled all lingering quests they had in Mementos, and they hadn’t really found a suitable new target. Yusuke and Ryuji didn’t have any leads, and Ren and Morgana would watch the news but nothing really caught their attention. Ann had some suggestions, but they were all big-name celebrities who’d been rumored to be up to some kind of wrongdoing in the tabloids, so the information was spotty at best and it’s not like they could get close enough to these people to verify it. And given how Makoto had just recently gotten them in trouble with a crime boss — even if they had dealt with it pretty well — he wasn’t in a rush to ask her for her opinion. Frankly, Makoto Niijima terrified Ren. She was his ally now, but before that she’d been stalking him and almost brought the Phantom Thieves down, and it’s not like her Metaverse transformation softened his mental image of her. Queen was probably the most intense person Ren had ever met in his life, and he really didn’t like spending time with Makoto outside of the Metaverse. Without the confidence that came with being Joker, Ren became a bit of a nervous wreck whenever she was near.

Which is why he was taking forever to answer her text message.

 

> **Makoto:** I’d like to discuss an important matter with you. Are you free this Sunday?

No, Ren did not have any plans on Sunday. And that wasn’t for lack of trying, he’d already asked around. Ryuji was doing stuff with his mom, Ann had a shoot that day, and Yusuke planned to sequester himself in his studio and make a painting solely from shades of blue. Mishima was probably available, but hangout time with Mishima was the kind of thing you had to mentally prepare yourself for. Ren didn’t dislike the de facto leader of the Phandom per se, but he was kind of cloying, and Ren just didn’t want to deal with the borderline idol worship while waiting to see if Kaneshiro’s change of heart was really going to take place.

_“Well,”_ he thought, _“guess I might as well find out what she wants.”_

 

> **Ren:** What do you want to talk about?
> 
> **Makoto:** I’d like to hold a strategy meeting.
> 
> **Ren:** Oh. Sunday’s no good.
> 
> **Makoto:** So you are unavailable on Sunday?
> 
> **Ren:** No, I’m free. It’s everyone else who’s busy. We can’t get the group together then.
> 
> **Makoto:** That’s perfect, then!
> 
> **Ren:** A meeting without the team is perfect?
> 
> **Makoto:** Oh my. I think you misunderstood me.
> 
> **Makoto:** I’d like to have a private strategy meeting with you. One-on-one between us as team strategist and leader.

_“Crap. I can’t say ‘No’. I already told her I’m free."_  Ren was glad Sojiro had already gone home, because he didn’t know what his guardian would think of the immense groan he let out in that moment. _“Time to bite the bullet.”_

 

> **Ren:** Alright. Do you want to meet at the diner on Central Street?
> 
> **Makoto:** I think it’d be best to do this somewhere private. Could we meet at your home?

Sirens went off inside Ren's head.

 

> **Ren:** I don’t think that’s a good idea.
> 
> **Makoto:** Why not?

_“Because LeBlanc is my last safe haven in the world and I don’t want to bring the nuclear woman into it.”_

 

> **Makoto:** Oh! That’s right! Ann mentioned that you live in a cafe!
> 
> **Makoto:** I imagine if you brought a girl up to your room during business hours your guardian would not approve.

_“I don’t know about that…”_  Ren snickered. _“Knowing Boss, he’d probably shut down the cafe so we could have some alone time.”_

 

> **Ren:** Yeah, it’d be a bad scene.
> 
> **Makoto:** I suppose you’ll have to come over to my home, then.

The sirens grew louder.

 

> **Ren:** That sounds risky. What about your family?
> 
> **Makoto:** We’ve nothing to fear. I live alone with my sister.
> 
> **Ren:** The prosecutor, right? I’ve seen her on TV.
> 
> **Ren:** I feel like she wouldn’t like a delinquent being in her home.
> 
> **Makoto:** She’s always at work. If you come at noon, I’m certain we’ll be done long before she returns.

_“Shit. There’s no way out of this.”_

 

> **Ren:** Alright. What’s the address?

* * *

Makoto grew anxious as she checked her watch. Ren had been standing outside of her front door for at least five minutes now, but he still hadn’t knocked. He technically wasn’t late for their meeting yet, but this was just ridiculous. Makoto understood that things were uneasy between her and Ren, which was the true purpose behind this meeting. There really wasn’t a lot to being the Phantom Thieves’ strategist. Everybody had their elements and fighting style, and even with their wild card leader switching things up constantly, it was pretty easy to keep it all straight and make sure they covered each other’s weaknesses. No, this was part of an entirely different strategy of Makoto’s: The plan to befriend Ren Amamiya.

Joker seemed to get along just fine with Queen in the Metaverse, but Ren was profoundly uncomfortable around Makoto Niijima, and that would need to be rectified going forward. Makoto figured some one-on-one time should do the trick. She even managed to get him to leave Morgana behind, arguing that if Sae found any cat hairs around the apartment she’d know something suspicious was going on. But now that the boy was here, he was choking at the last second, his hand held aloft in front of the door, knuckles at the ready but arm and wrist unmoving. Makoto wanted to open the door and yell at him to come in, but that would be counterintuitive to the whole point of this meeting. Makoto stepped away from the door, checking on a kettle of water on the kitchen stove. She’d heard that a watched pot never boils, but it somehow felt more productive than watching Ren through the peephole of her door. Besides, she knew Ren well enough to know that he took his promises seriously. Maybe he needed to get his nerves under control, but he wasn’t going to turn tail and run. Sooner or later, he’d knock.

Thankfully, it was sooner. Makoto checked her watch as she finally heard the sound of knocking. It was just a few seconds to noon. By the time she opened the front door, it was twelve o’clock exactly.

“Right on time.” Makoto stepped aside, holding the door open for Ren. “Come on in.”

 Ren seemed confused and a little impressed as he entered the apartment, as if he’d just walked into some strange and foreign land. Makoto recalled that Ren lived in a small country town before coming to Tokyo, so between that and his current residence, it seemed likely he was used to small and modest living spaces. The Niijima apartment was hardly the height of luxury, but it was nice. Sae wasn’t really one for extravagancies, but she seemed to have a certain standard of living that was reflected in the apartment’s modern and practical decor.

“Should I take off my shoes?” Ren asked.

“Only if you’d like” Makoto said. She pointed to the couch. “Please make yourself comfortable.”

“Ok.” Ren left his shoes on and sat down on the L-shaped couch. It seemed that he wanted the option of the quickest escape possible. Makoto was about to join him, but the tea kettle started wailing. She quickly made her way to the stove, taking the kettle and pouring its contents into a pot already prepared with tea leaves in it. Makoto took the teapot and a couple cups and put them on a tray, which she carried over to the living room area. Ren seemed deep in thought, but he was wrenched out of it and even jumped a little when Makoto put the tray down on the coffee table in front of him.

“I hope green tea is to your liking” Makoto said. “I have heard excellent things about LeBlanc’s coffee, so I imagine you would find anything I could brew here lacking in comparison.” This was not a lie, exactly, but Makoto was also hesitant to give Ren caffeine in his nervous state.

“You’ve… heard about LeBlanc?” Ren looked up at Makoto curiously. “When? When you were stalking me?”

“I never followed you home.” Makoto blushed as she poured some tea into the cup closer to Ren, embarrassed by the memory of hiding behind that manga magazine. “As a matter of fact, Sis mentioned it to me once. She came home in a rare good mood, claiming it was the best coffee she’d ever had.”

“Well, Boss IS a master at his work.” Ren eased up thinking about Sojiro, and even let himself smile a bit. “I’d like to be like that someday.”

“You want to be a master barista?” Makoto poured herself a cup of tea.

“No, I’d just like to be that good at whatever it is I do.”

“I see.” Makoto sat down on the other side of the L couch. She wasn’t right next to Ren, but she was close enough that she could see the sweat forming on his brow. She picked up a pencil and notebook from the coffee table. “I suppose I feel similarly about the Phantom Thieves, which is why I’ve asked you here today.”

“Yeah, about that…” Ren's throat began to dry out. “What exactly IS the purpose of this meeting?”

“What are you talking about?” Makoto had to force herself to speak calmly. Had Ren figured out her ulterior motive? No, that wasn’t possible. He probably wasn’t thinking with a cool head. Then again, if he was afraid of her, paranoia may lead his thoughts down any number of paths. But it’s not like he could prove this was a scheme on her part.“Like I said in my text, this is a strategy meeting.”

“Yeah, but…” Ren cleared his throat. “What strategy, exactly? It’s not like we know what Palaces are going to be like until we discover them, and we won’t know what special challenges they hold until we face them.”

“That’s true,” Makoto said as she opened her notebook, “Palaces are full of unknown factors until we face them, which is why I’d like to focus on a factor that is known to us: Our teammates.”

“What about them?” Ren took a sip of his tea in an attempt to calm his nerves.

“I’d like to get a fuller understanding of their capabilities.”

“Shouldn’t they be here, then?”

“In truth, I’d prefer to hear your appraisal of them.” Makoto shook her head. “I don’t exactly trust them to have the most accurate self-evaluations.”

“Hey, don’t you think that’s a little-“ Ren cut himself off, lost in thought. Makoto wasn’t sure exactly what was going on in his head, but from the exhausted, annoyed, and sometimes amused expressions he rapidly switched between, she imagined he was probably thinking of how the other members of the Phantom Thieves would respond if asked to rate their own effectiveness. By Makoto’s own estimate, Morgana and Ryuji would both start bragging, Ann would probably undersell herself a bit, and Yusuke would either speak plainly or say something completely indecipherable. “Ok, I see your point” Ren said.

“I’m glad to hear that.” Makoto put her pencil to paper and looked at Ren expectantly. “Let’s begin with Ryuji.”

“Ryuji’s one of our heavy hitters.” Ren tilted his head back, his mood lightening a bit as he thought about his best friend. “His physical attacks are really strong. He has electric magic, but it’s not really his strong suit.”

“Yes, I’ve noticed that.” Makoto started scrawling notes about Ryuji in her notebook, taking care only to use the name “Skull”. “I’ve also noticed that he’s a bit slow to act in fights. Why is that?”

“It’s his bum leg.” Ren frowned. “I know everyone just thinks of him as reckless, but he actually does take a moment to make sure he’s not doing anything to hurt himself when he goes to attack a Shadow.”

“But isn’t he a runner?” Makoto looked at Ren curiously. While information gathering wasn’t her primary goal for the afternoon, she decided to take this meeting seriously in case Ren did drop any new insights she hadn’t made herself. “I don’t mean to be insensitive to Ryuji’s injury, but I understand he’s quite fast, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, with some build-up. Ryuji may have blonde hair, but he’s not the übermensch.” Ren grinned at his own joke for just a moment, his face quickly returning to a serious expression. “He’s not as dumb as everyone thinks. He really knows his stuff when it comes to physical fitness and his own body’s limitations. If Ryuji tried breaking into his top speed immediately, he’d hurt himself.”

“So it sounds like when it comes to Ryuji, the rest of us should run interference until he’s ready to strike.” Makoto’s scrawling continued. “Distract and wear down key targets while he takes a moment to make sure his movements don’t hurt himself more than our opponents, then allow him to execute a finishing blow if needed.”

“I guess that could work, yeah.” Ren took another sip of his tea. “Of course, there’s no need to treat Ryuji like an invalid or a burden or anything. Sometimes when I know we need to hit hard, I’ll baton pass to him.”

“‘Baton pass’?”

“You know, that high-five thing we do.” Ren high-fived the air to illustrate his point.

“Yes, I’ve been wondering about that. Why are you all high-fiving each other in the middle of battle?”

“I guess it’s kind of the closest thing we’ve had to strategy until you came on board.” Ren laughed nervously. “Basically, there’s kind of a rhythm to battle. Everybody feels when it’s their time to move. And sometimes you just have to realize that maybe what you’re feeling isn’t necessarily the best move. So the baton pass is our way of letting somebody else know they should take the lead for the moment. It’s kind of strategizing on the fly, I guess.”

“I see.” Makoto tried to hide her displeasure, but could still feel a slight frown forming on her face. “You know, none of you have tried that with me yet.”

“W-Well, you know, it’s just because you’re still so new.” Ren tried to give Makoto a reassuring grin, but it came across as a terrified grimace. “I’m sure once we get more used to you we’ll be able to feel out your rhythm in battle alongside everyone else’s.”

“Yes, that makes sense.” Makoto pushed away the feeling of being left out. This meeting was meant to fix exactly this kind of problem. She just had to believe in the plan. “Perhaps we should spend more time together, then.”

“Yeah, totally” Ren said, lacking any and all enthusiasm.

“Moving on,” Makoto ignored Ren's half-hearted response and wrote “PANTHER” at the top of another page, “let's talk about Ann. I’ve noticed you don’t tend to keep her on the front lines.”

“Yeah, well, it's nothing personal.” Ren sighed. “Ann’s fire magic probably packs more of a punch than most of our Personas’ abilities, but she can’t really take what she’s dishing out. She has some healing magic, but Ann specializes in disrupting our enemies. She has these debuffs and status ailments which come in handy, but are less effective against more powerful foes and kind of slow things down in battles against weaker foes. And then there’s the problem with that machine gun of hers.”

“Yes, she doesn’t seem to have the best aim with it.”

“I’m not saying hitting everybody is useless or anything, but we need precision strikes against these shadows. Bullets are a limited resource, and when we find enemies that are weak to them, they’re a good way to conserve energy we spend on casting spells. So when she’s trying to shoot a pixie and half her shots are hitting the wrong target, that’s a problem. We need to be precise and focused when taking down enemies, and Ann’s more suited towards softening them up than closing.”

“Still, that could prove to our advantage…” Makoto stared at her notes intently for a moment before writing something down. “Perhaps we could encourage Ann to hang back and take advantage of sneak attacks. Stunning all of the enemies at once with her particular skills could open them up to an all-out attack from everyone on the front lines.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” Ren scratched his chin. “Plus that way, she could conserve energy towards healing us between battles.”

“Is that why you have Morgana away from the front line?” Makoto asked. “He has healing magic too, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah, and it’s pretty potent. His wind attacks are strong too.” Ren crossed his arms. “The problem is, he also can’t really take a hit, and while it’d be nice to have a powerful healer watching out for us in the thick of it all, Morgana can’t heal anybody if he gets knocked out by a lightning bolt. Plus he relies on luck a lot.”

“Well, I would put Morgana into the action more, if for no other reason than morale.” Makoto was very glad that she had insisted Morgana not come. She couldn’t imagine how he would react to this conversation, and had no desire to get an idea of it. “I can’t help but notice that he seems to have a fragile ego.”

“You’re not wrong.” Ren leaned back into the couch. “I’m sure he’d appreciate the vote of confidence. I haven’t really had him on the front lines since Yusuke joined the team.”

“Is there a reason you prefer Yusuke?” Makoto turned to a new page in her notebook. “He and Morgana both use swords. Is he a more skilled swordsman?”

“I don’t know if skill really plays into it, but he does hit pretty hard. Harder than Ryuji, even. I don’t even know how that works, given how malnourished he is.”

“Yes, I have noticed his attacks are rather strong.” Makoto wondered if it had something to do with Yusuke’s cognition. They were all stronger in the cognitive world than they were in real life, after all. Maybe Yusuke’s insane strength had something to do with the way he perceived himself. That or a sword was just a more effective weapon than an old pipe. “It makes sense to keep him on the front lines, then. I can’t help but notice that many enemies seem to be weak to his ice magic.”

“That’s true too.” Ren sunk further into the couch, as relaxed as he could be. He lazily reached out to his tea cup, not wanting to lean forward. He barely managed to snag his fingertips around it and lift it up to his mouth. “The really nice thing is that he doesn’t have any obvious shortcomings like the others. Kind of like you.”

“Like me?”

“Yeah. Your abilities are pretty well-rounded. You’re fast, you hit pretty hard, you can heal us, and you have that Nuclear magic. I’ve got a bunch of Personas, but none of them can do that.” Ren's nervousness vanished wholesale for a moment, the cool grin of Joker appearing on his face. “You’re a real asset to the team, Queen.”

“I’m delighted to hear you consider me so irreplaceable” Makoto said in a faux-haughty tone, nose turned up into the air. Makoto appreciated the praise, but at the same time found herself frustrated. Ren only seemed comfortable around her when he was in full-on Joker mode. Still, maybe Joker could provide the opening to getting the rest of Ren to trust her. She decided to see if getting Ren to talk about himself would provide an opening. “That said, I do find your ability to use multiple Personas fascinating. What allows you to do that?”

“I have no idea.”

_“So much for that plan”_ Makoto thought.

“I wonder if there’s some way to unlock that kind of potential for the rest of us…” Makoto scratched her head with the eraser of her pencil.

“I don’t know.” Ren shrugged. “So many things about Personas and the Metaverse are still a mystery to us. I figure any answers to be found are deep in Mementos along with Morgana’s memories.”

“Alright then, let’s get back to some things we do know about.”

“Like what?”

“Well, our equipment, for example.” Makoto closed her notebook. So far it had provided a barrier for Ren in this conversation, but she wanted him to get comfortable with her full attention on him. “You get all of our weapons from that airsoft store off Central Street, right?”

“Yeah. I do some work for Iwai and he gives me discounts and access to special modifications.”

“What kind of work?”

“Keeping the store tidy, mostly. Sometimes I’ll do a delivery for him or something, but it’s nothing all that strenuous.

“Is that safe? Just what are you delivering?”

“I don’t ask Iwai questions, and he doesn’t ask me any.” Ren yawned as he continued, deep-voiced words coming out through heavy breath. “It’s not like I’m dealing with the yakuza or anything.”

“I should hope not. Although that would be somewhat exciting…” Makoto’s thoughts trailed off, imagining Ren get a large tattoo of Arsene on his back. She hadn’t seen him shirtless, but did imagine there was some muscle definition to him, given how active his lifestyle was. Back in reality, she noticed the real Ren looking at her nervously again, and that she had a devious smile on her face. Makoto’s cheeks became flushed, and she returned her focus to the boy quickly. “There’s one more thing I’d like to discuss with you” she said in a tone attempting to reassert her professionalism.

“What’s that?”

“The medication you provide for us in the Metaverse. It’s not any brand I’m familiar with.”

“My doctor makes it herself.” Ren quickly noticed that Makoto’s face was nothing short of disturbed. “She has a license” he added.

“And who is this doctor?”

“Tae Takemi. She has a clinic near LeBlanc.”

“And does she know that you’re a Phantom Thief?”

“She does not.”

“So why is she providing you with medicine?”

“Because I pay her for it.”

“And she has no objections to selling high quantities of potent proprietary drugs to a high-school student?”

“We have an arrangement.”

“What kind of arrangement?”

“The legal-yet-secret kind.”

“Very well.” Makoto let out a dissatisfied hum. “While I would like to know more, I suppose as our leader you are not obligated to tell me the full details, nor is the information pertinent for me to know in my role as strategist.”

“Glad you see things my way.” Ren tried to speak with authority, but it wasn’t really coming across the way he wanted to. “Is there anything else you’d like to know?”

“I believe I have all the information I need for now.” Makoto flipped through her notebook. “I can begin to formulate some new combat formations and attack patterns from here.”

“So you don’t need me anymore?”

“Well, no.” Makoto smiled at Ren. “But if you’d like to stick around, I could bounce some ideas off of you and-“

“I’m good.” Ren rose from the couch. “Besides, I’d rather be impressed by whatever you come up with alongside the others.”

“You’re leaving already?” Makoto stood up.

“We’ve done what we need to, and Morgana gets restless if I leave him alone without anyone else to talk to for too long.” Ren headed for the door. “I’ll see you at school, Queen.”

“Yes, I’ll see you-“

The door closed. Makoto looked back at the half-empty teacup Ren'd been drinking from and sighed. It seemed he was no closer to accepting her as a part of his social circle than before.

Clearly solving this problem would require an entirely different type of strategy.

**Author's Note:**

> Heads up for fans of my past fics, if you're wondering where exactly this falls in on the timeline, it takes place between different scenes in Chapter 3 of "The President's Investigation", between the fall of Kaneshiro's Palace and the Mementos trust ride.
> 
> Update: This fic has been changed to use Joker's canon name.


End file.
